Failed Coup Hastens Change In Turkey's Foreign Policy

The after-coup purges in Turkey continue. The Erdogan administration is firing any public servant who might, just might, not agree with its policies. Today the education ministry suspended 15,200 teachers and education workers. The licenses of 21,000 teacher at private schools were revoked. The Higher Education Commission asked 1577 university deans to resign. The Religious Affairs Directorate sacked 492 personnel, including imams and muftis. The Turkish Prime Ministry sacked 257 of its personnel in the post-coup crackdown. The Turkish secret service M.I.T suspended some 130 of its spies. In total nearly 50,000 people have been suspended, fired or detained by now. Most of these had nothing to do with the botched military coup against the government.

These losses of knowledge and experience, and the fear of those who for now stay, will take some toll on the functioning of the Turkish government and its security services. Turkey will turn inward while Erdogan will use his current popularity to remake the society in his image.

The expansive Turkish plans and projects in Syria and in Iraq will be cut back. Signs of this were already evident before the coup was launched and defeated. (Indeed some suggested that these changes were a reason for the coup.) The coup will reinforce and hasten the changes in Turkey's foreign policy.

Turkey pulled back the military forces it had illegally stationed in Bashiqa near Mosul in Iraq. Earlier the Iraqi government as well as Russia had protested against these forces on Iraqi ground but to no avail. Now they silently retreat. The Iranian agency FARS, though not always reliable, reported yesterday that all Turkish agents in Aleppo province in Syria were called back to Turkey. During the coup event something curious happened to one important person:

The top counter-terrorism official responsible for Turkey’s campaign against Islamic State did go to a “meeting” at the presidential palace in Ankara. He was later found with his hands tied behind his back, shot in the neck, according to a senior official.

Someone used the coup trouble to off the top Turkish ISIS contact. How very convenient. This is the only reported casualty at the presidential palace I have heard of. Who might have had an interest in removing this witness of Turkish relations with ISIS? Could this be some "cleaning the record" before making nice again with Syria and its allies? There is a second data-point that might have such a motive. The Erdogan government is now accusing "Gülenists" for the trouble with Russia and claims that the pilot who shot down a Russian jet also took part in the coup. Another person that stands in the way of better relations with Russia is thereby now imprisoned and moved out of the diplomatic picture.

Russia as well as Iran have loudly supported the Erdogan government against the coup plotters. Erdogan replied in kind:

In early August Erdogan and Putin will meet in persons. All these little dots point to a new direction in Turkish foreign policies. This is one of the Three western worries about Turkey namely "Turkey’s ideological drift away from the West."

The former Turkish colonel Hasan Atilla Ugur, in talk with an Iranian news site, claimed that the coup was launched by the CIA directed Gülenists to prevent such change in Turkish foreign policy and the move towards Iran and Russia. (The preacher Fetullah Gülen, accused of orchestrating the coup, is known to be extremely anti-Iran.)

A trusted mouthpiece of Erdoagn, the somewhat lunatic chief editor of YeniSafak, İbrahim Karagül, accuses the U.S. of attempting to murder Erdogan:

I am saying it loud and clear:

The U.S. administration directly planned to kill the president of the Republic of Turkey and implemented this plan. The operation aimed at martyring President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Marmaris was activated through Gülen's terrorists, the assassination team.

I repeat: The attack aimed at martyring Erdoğan was planned by the U.S., in the U.S., directly through Gülen's terrorists and the instructions were given by them.

The Grand National Assembly of Turkey was bombed by a schizophrenic under U.S. protection. Bombing the people's Parliament is declaring war against the people. This attack, like no other in history, was made by the terrorists of a man protected by the U.S.

That Erdogan turns away from "west" and towards Iran and Russia does not yet mean peace for Syria. It will take a while for Erdogan to fully come around. It will be difficult and take months to neutralize all the fanatic proxy forces Turkey introduced to the battlefield. There will be resistance in Turkey against leaving Syria alone. Some of the Syrian "moderate rebels" will turn their wrath against Turkey itself as the Islamic State has already done. The U.S. will of course also continue to intervene no matter what. Over all though this change of attitude in Ankara is welcome news for Damascus.

If Erdogan wants to leave the western realm and gain support from his eastern neighbors he will have to pay a price. Peace in Syria is the one part of it on which Iran, Russia and China will insist.

There will be a Turkish National Security Council meeting on Wednesday after which a big announcement will be made. What might it be? Will Turkey leave NATO or will the move be of lesser significance?

The Russian secret services detected a Gladio inside Turkey (JIC). Erdogan made nice to Russia to create pressure on the internal plotters, and to Israel to make sure they understood what was coming. Then, with Russian assistance, Erdogan got out of the way. The coup was pushed to launch in a rush and failed spectacularly (miserably -?). Erdogan begins to clean up his country while smiling politely at the US. In the near future, Turkey secedes from NATO and establishes the first crack. Other countries begin to follow suit, probably smaller ones wrecked by the financial crises imposed, but at some point Germany or France decides it (NATO) isn't worth it. NATO fractures and "F the EU" comes home to roost. The US is shown to have overplayed its hand and others, less blinded by their own hubris, propel their countries to positions of greater status in the world. And, it didn't have to be this way. Oh well.

Erdogan has toyed with practically all of the big nations with interests in the region, to their great irritation and his complete loss of esteem. As Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich pointed out on Saturday in her interview with RT (link for james), Erdogan has made so many mistakes, he's hated by everyone in the world. For this reason, with the rapprochement with Russia and Syria both, she surmised that perhaps he was finally "coming to his senses."

The point is that Erdogan has burned every bridge in the world. Syria and Russia will give him the time of day because realpolitik demands it for the best, and for this, his nation is lucky. He himself may still be as treacherous a person as before the dual rapprochements, we don't know, and it doesn't really matter, because nobody is ever going to give him room to wiggle ever again.

So, his options are very limited. He can only flee forward. He knows the west will carve up Turkey, while the east actually gives it hope for prosperity. Personally, I think the coup is a much smaller incident than the sea change of Turkey's reorienting back towards the east.

It seems to me that the sham coup was primarily for Erdogan to consolidate power and become the Sultan of Turkey. All other calculations are secondary. It will be interesting to see if more skeptical players like Putin and Khamaeni will trust this guy, even if he proclaims new allegiances.

my take.. i guess it is only a matter of time and we will be told the 'top turkish isis contact' who was taken out, was a part of the gulen movement too... may as well continue with this story line for anything and everything this point forward.. if erdogan had anything on the cia, he'd share it.. as it stands he doesn't - it's all gulen/ gulen movement.. it sells to the akp home crowd. i see just yesterday there was a witch hunt on the alevi in malatya.. for anyone who knows the short history on this, it doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in the akp crowd- erdogans gang of hoodlums is more like it.

@4 grieved.. thanks. i will read it.

turkey moving into russia's court sounds good.. we'll see how this develops.. erdogan had plenty of chances to make up with russia, even if the supposed pilot responsible for the downed russian jet was 'gulen'.. the fact he didn't tells us what? he was waiting til later to tell the world it was all gulens fault? i personally don't buy that and all the venom as presently expressed.. meanwhile erdogans turkey continues to spiral down, regardless who is playing him - russia or the usa.

Russia, China and Iran would benefit greatly from another push of immigrants into the EU by erdogan as well. I'd make that a condition of improved relations. The EU looks like it might achieve that on its own but I'd make sure because the immigrant crisis is poised to destroy the EU and Merkels reign.

The counter coup is frightening now that it is aimed the “secular” society in Turkey, teachers and government workers. Erdogan needs Russian protection while holding thousands of NATO service members and the 90 nuclear bombs hostage and demanding billions in ransom from the West.

Vladimir Putin has a choice of accepting Turkey into the Eurasian Alliance with Iran and China and likely starting World War III or using Turkey as a bargaining chip to end the sanctions and gain an alliance with Central and Eastern Europe and peace in Syria. This is another total disaster for the West’s ruling elite. The American Empire is splintering.

The RF aspect is paramount in what is going on in Turkey at the moment, and is a necessary alliance that will benefit the region as a whole and also the EU (- NATO membership no longer dictating policy!)
Amazing that the western press seem to have all but ignored the RF factor in their analyses!
As for tomorrow's announcement, not sure, B, if you are on the money. While announcing withdrawl from NATO is a possibility, far more likely is the growing rumour of Martial Law being implemented across 81 regions to facilitate, of course, smooth transition to Erdogans new Turkey.
B - excellent articles from you recently. Greatly appreciated.

Have to add that I am not with the doomsayers should Turkey strengthen alleigance with RF. The key factor for both Turkey and Russia is EU business and cooperation which would be greatly enhanced should Turkey inflict a fatal blow on NATO.
The US is not going to start a war over this. And the EU is more and more unsettled by US imposed sanctions against RF and NATO driven aggression.
Putin is not looking for a war either, he wants closer ties with EU and success for his eurasian bloc and unsurprisingly, regional stability!

So Russia wants relations with Erdogan, a despicable, authortarian, racist, Islamist, state terrorist, Syria destroying, Syrian Kurd mass murdering PIECE OF SHIT. And in the end couched by b in terms of geo-politics as the most important.

So Russian + Chinese + Iranian terms for peace in Syria will come at the cost of keeping an authoritarianism despicable mad man controlling turkey, Who is so unpredictable and unreliable that's his current promises or mindset mean absolutely nothing. Great plan.

@ bThere will be a Turkish National Security Council meeting on Wednesday after which a big announcement will be made.
Scuttlebutt on Twitter:
He is going to announce his referendum tomorrow and will try to take all political power, crushing the opposition

@15 tom.. i guess russia will turn a blind eye to the oil from isis exchange to erdogans son.. must have been a gulen conspiracy that motivated russia to claim all that!! i can't wait to be told who the gulen movement person was who gave the tip off to rt, lol..

Hi,B. I agree with the commenter who said you've been doing great work recently & thank u for it.

Regarding Syria, I think the prospect of the collapse of the "Regime Change Now" coalition is *fantastic* news, and all of us ought to be urging the speedy attainment of a Syria peace agreement that centrally would involve the peaceful return of all Syrian citizens (and Palestinian refugees with Syrian laissez-passers) to their earlier places of residence along with massive international aid to Syria to help them all rebuild. I think this is far more what most currently in-exile or internally displaced Syrians and Pal-Syrians would actually prefer rather than continuing as pawns of the AKP and Ken Roth in their respective (and differently motivated) "refugee flow to the west" scenarios.

TEHRAN, July 19 /TASS/. "Turkey is ready to work towards restoration of peace and stability in the region together with Russia and Iran, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a telephone conversation with Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani on Monday.

"Today, we are determined more than ever before to contribute to the solution of regional problems hand in hand with Iran and Russia and in cooperation with them," the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) quoted Erdogan as saying. The Turkish president informed Rouhani about the situation in Turkey. "At present, the situation is getting back to normal but it is too early to say that everything is over," Erdogan said."

"All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;u"

In my view the CIA did not make the coup but in the contrary it tipped off turkey intelligence to stop it.
Just remember how the CIA in 1953 made a counter coup to keep the Shah of Iran in power.
The USA always defend its ally dictators until they see there is no chance to save him.
The USA and Israel have all the reasons in the world to keep Erdogan in power, but they gave him a poisonous gift. They are throwing him in the path a total Islamization of Turkey with unknown consequences.
Ironically the Islamic republic of Iran is applauding the emergence of the Islamic republic of Turkey, Sunni version.

I see lots of wish-lists amidst the speculations. The easiest is Erdogan will consolidate his power, but will he continue his war against Kurds? Lots of fog. One odd fact is the lack of vitriol against Erdogan by the usually uber spiteful syrianperspective.com which might be an interesting signal of sorts. Meanwhile, freshly made pita bread and hummus to eat as I watch the circus.

Erdogan now has scapegoats to blame his mistakes on. He can now shift policy on ISIS, Nusra and Syria while saving face by blaming his previous policies on the "coup plotters."

He is in a very difficult situation nonetheless. He has to change his foreign policy because it is a disaster that is killing Turkey but changing his Syria policy would or will result in a coup against him and/or a host of economic measures against Turkey. Pivoting to Asia makes sense but Turks have a lot of economic and other connections with Europe and the EU tends to be very vindictive.

I doubt he will leave NATO. He is better off getting turkey kicked out and it's an announcement of a divorce..

The last few years have been about Turkish pride and the restoration of the Ottoman Empire. Erdogan represents that. Now he has to decide whether to continue with the fantasy or let it go. Empires can be problematic. Even the US is realizing that.

In Cambodia the purge was upward of 2,000,000. In Russia, the prge was upward of 10,000,000. More Americans die of medical malpractice and processed food every month than 'Erdogan' ousted. Hell, the Goldmanim ousted 95,000,000 now jobless or homeless Americans, and it's still life as usual for the Exceptional Ubers.

What's a mere 0.06% of the Turkish population ousted by their compatriots for not being 'loyal', compared to the Goldmanim coup de grace of America this November?

Proving that the only thing DJT and the RNC are good for is reducing US political debate to WWE Chaos and vapid belly-bumping slogans, the RNC has nominated Trump-Pence 2016 for the Nation's highest position on "Make America Safe (White) Again", and his lovely foreign trophy wife's plagiarized speech, ...stolen word for word from Michelle Obama's.

That's all folks! Yaba daba do!

As Fox News disintegrated and the disenfranchised RNC delegates threw urine at each other over Trump's second party plank: "Make America Work Again", the prospect of Making instead of Taking has proved too stressful for these Exceptional Ubers. Thus the RNC Convention never did achieve "Make America Great Again", ..only nominating Bozo The Money Launderer, his Chi-Chi wife, and his hard-core NeoCon, Two-Front War TTP American Tealiban Sarahia Law sidekick.

Two days was about all the work RNCs could handle.
Arbeit Macht Frei - Neo-RNC National Security State.

RU-TK-IR are fighting the Gulf Monarchs for access to the Fifth Quintile of EU, the last unexploited wealth on the Eurasian continent, and US-IL are gun-running to whomever wants to buy, having already credit-debt encumbered the Fifth Quintile in US. It's all paid out and played out. One more generation, a generation of piracy, looting and terror, and the world will settle into a global micro-cephalic Pharoahopathy of beggars, pushcarts and money lenders, as it all comes down to smoke and ash in the end-state Petrocene Epoch.

Last night I saw a Vietnamese fiddler with his emaciated son playing an odd tabla, going door to door, ignored, but I was too stuck on finding a food cart before night shut down, and so that's how it will go now, emaciated bodies in doorways, and bring out your dead, while somewhere high up in a condo tower, a future b lays out tomorrow's MoA galleys, as MoA's readers chase Pokeman pixies around their gated-community lawnscapes, just troglodyte OLED-illuminated fireflies, flitting through the black rain.

If this is a real shift to the east, and it is looking like it is, Turkey's problems are only just beginning. The US/NATO will destroy Turkey before they let Russia have it. And Turkey has a million vulnerabilities for destabilization. The Kurds being only one of many.

So Turkey will need a huge amount of help from Russia, Iran and China. And angelic forgiveness from Syria.

Because the geopolitical stakes are priceless and the big boys have ever no rules.

Good! Sounds like at least some of my view points have been validated... :-)

I wonder what happened at Incirlik, it must have been something of great importance if Erdogan's people closed it off during the fake coup. Most probably some sort of false flag nuclear event was planned involving ISIL to justify planned NATO support for the real coup. I guess ISIL (i.e. Israel/City of London/CIA) was supposed to "manage somehow" to steal some nuclear weapons "in the ensuing mayhem".

Interesting that Egyptian president Al-Sisi deleted his condemnation of Erdogan's "anti-coup" after few hours...

Handling the judeo-masonry 5th column - the Muslim Brotherhood - is going to be the real challenge. I guess Erdogan could learn something about that from Hafaz al-Assad (I've seen some links recently on the Internet to his supposedly great speech from years ago about the nature of the threats to Syria).

By sheer "coincidence" on Friday it was announced that Bibi "Satanyahoo" would be criminally investigated for money-laundering, not only in Israel, but also in the US and France, which recently announced cooperation with Russia in fighting world terrorism...

Erdogan seems very confident in his moves and announcements - that can only mean that he has Russian best intelligence support and security guarantees trumping any possible CIA/MI6 sabotage...

On the other hand the City of London pathetic puppets - Johnson and May - just as I was suggesting some days ago, are increasing their war rhetoric against Russia and Syria...

It seems that we are going to reach some climax soon, possibly before that hell bitch Hitlary Killton has a chance to inflict any real damage. I expect revealing real culprits of 9/11 in September and some other world-shattering revelations.

The problem is not the regular US army in the Eastern Europe (funny that Germany refused to fly NATO's flags during recent "Anaconda" drills in Poland) or elsewhere but the PMC, hirelings, mercenaries from Canopy, Archangel, L3, Blackwater/Academi/XE/Monsanto, Greyhound, KBR, DynCorp, G4S, ISIS, ICTS, ASBS, Craft who have formed over last 10 years private armies of the ruling global evil cabal. Those soulless creatures have no morals, no conscience, no humanity left in them, they travel to Novorussia end elsewhere for "human safari" to rape, kill, maim, torture, terrorize target population to secure interests of global corporations, related secret societies (thousands of judeo-masonic lodges in the US, UK, France) and cults (mostly Abrahamic, inlcuding pentcostals, Jehova witnesses, mormons, scientology).

I see the Western - now clearly visible - MSM hysteria against Erdogan (a man I deeply despise myself for what he did with his son, daughter and other criminals to the ME) pushing strongly "fake coup" theme NATO veiled threats against him ("Ensure full respect for democracy" or else), along with "sultan's" big geopolitical moves over last few days (resurrection of the Turkish Stream, unprecedented verbal accusatory attack on the US plus earlier closing off the Incirlic air base plus Gulen extradition request, withdrawal from Iraq, possible trail of the (CIA) pilot who shot down the Russian jet fighter bombing ISIL and now this TASS: World - Erdogan: Turkey ready to restore regional peace together with Iran and Russia) as conformation of my theory of pre-emptive, or preventive (auto)coup.

For the deception to work well some elements of the real coup that had been in planning by CIA, MoSSad, MI6, City of London, had to be triggered - in this case it were initial western diplomatic cables about "uprising", "Erdogan seeking asylum abroad" MSM story, some moves in the Incirlik base (preparations to drop some nukes? - "nuke going off in the ME" theme has appeared in the alternative media some time ago)

"Runaway president seeking asylum abroad" piece could be used in various ways: 1) in real regime change scenario it's used to crush the spirit of the loyalists, 2) in fake coup scenario it was a trap for the real coup supporters so that they reveal themselves.

In many (war) games knowing planned moves of your opponent and using them against him/her gives you a great advantage. IMHO that's what happened here - Erdogan had excellent intelligence on the planned coup thanks to 1) being recent ally of the plotters 2) Russia and her allies, and he used that knowledge against the CIA, Gulen et al, he triggered some of the elements of their plot. That's shy they were fooled at first, but after realizing the mistake, were forced to stop other elements of the plan. Apparently the coordination for the original CIA plan was not iron-clad, probably it never is, because of the compartmentalization.

Erdogan seems to be very arrogant, defiant against the CIA, judging by the way he speaks, gestures - that means he has a real strong backing of Russia, China, Iran. Of course he lies about the "coup", but lying and purges is the only way out for him, now that is obvious that he changed sides.

He's the only other person who managed to fool one's City of London/Bilderberg global masters and turn to the "light side" - first being Obama. It's telling that Kerry suggests Turkey could leave NATO, whereas Stoltenberg threatens Erdogan "to fully respect democracy". And who decides if "democracy is respected"? Of course NATO's "agentur" - MSM media whores, presstitutes, "independent" NGOs and "international bodies". We kind of somewhat see the sentence has already been given by the MSM, don't we? Expect more turmoil from hidden CIA/MI6/MoSSad cells in Turkey in the near future (that's why Erdogan is attacking the US and turning his supporters against it). It's almost eerily reminiscent of "Assad must go".

Russia has been covering for Erdogan, at least trough her propagandists (Korybko) or supporters (Engdahl), but the truth is the "wannabe sultan" is and embarrassment for the Axis, and he needs to mend his ways fast in order to stay a float. Being an insider Erdogan managed to maintain the status of "asset" from being switched "liability" for a little longer, but his overblown ego and thuggish nature may soon lead to his own demise. He's tolerated now as "our son of a bitch" since it saves huge amount of resources toward achieving strategic goals, but for Russia and her allies maintaining clean, internationally respected image is of utmost importance. And in this respect Erdogan is a weak point for them - he can be blackmailed by the West that knows well about "sultan's" colossal crimes, and he is full of it and quickly loses temper - thus can be easily provoked into making some grave mistakes (massacres, summary executions, bombings, more purges). I hope Russia's team has been preparing already to replace him with some body with somebody clean hands. I expect them to put a lot of pressure on Erdogan to behave well - stop wars against Syria, Kurds, soften his dictatorial grip over the country, compensate for his wrongdoings.

IMHO we'll see soon Erdogan doing just that, apart from obvious geopolitical changes (moving farther from NATO and EU but closer to SCO and the Eurasian Union) - probably that's why he made so many despotic moves before: to accumulate political capital that now can be turned into bargaining chips. He can now release some of the pressure on the Turkish society he built up before for that purpose, so the world can see how "democratic" he's going to be despite that bad Western press accusations. I guess he will start with some freedom of speech concessions, possibly dealing appropriately first with agents of foreign influence in the manner that Russia has done.

I do not care if Erdogan is lying as long as it saves thousands of innocent lives in Syria and elsewhere.

My BS-meter broke, apparently it got input outside the scope of parameters that were deemed possible by the designers. I should know that it was a bad product, the scale stopped at 1000 x Elephant Crap loads.

The main problem is not the elites, who have been implementing a plan of total control of the world human masses created 500 BC in Babylon, with recent major improvement over last 100 of years thanks to TAVISTOCK, but the rest of the humanity.

The world is evil because people are weak.

It will not be a better place as long as billions of people care more about their standards of living than about being a just man...

Lysander, You are one of the old timers here, and I usually agree with your take; but I think you are mistaken on this point (@ 34) The US can not attempt to use NATO as a bludgeon to smash Turkey, without revealing to Europeans who the real enemy is.

There is no way that Turkey can be destroyed without producing an End Times scenario,. Those who operate in the background, and work in the shadows, can not afford to give away their hand, and openly destroy the country.

This is the reality that Erdogan (despicable as he may be) understands. The country or alliance that undertakes this in the open, is obviously making war on Europe. The country that would devastate Turkey, and reduce it to a black hole of societal destruction, is not only the enemy of Europe, but the enemy of Humanity. The mask will be off. And I think the malignant party that might contemplate the aggression will think twice, before risking exposure.

If we were not talking about a tyrant like Erdogan, who is seeking an absolute consolidation of domestic power; then a shift by Turkey toward Russia might hold some promising diplomatic possibilities. It occurs to me that a deal could be struck, whereby Ukraine could become more of the buffer state it was, before the Kiev coup, (and not be brought into NATO).

Of course such a deflection of NATO aggression would be an end to an immediate danger; but not necessarily a way out of ultimate catastrophe; because there is no way of knowing what is in Erdogan's mind, and how far his political ambitions go. A rosy scenario, in which non-alignment of Turkey and non-alignment of Ukraine could be worked out, in tandem, would go a long way to reducing tensions, and would make life for Europeans a lot easier.

Of course, if a Hitleresque Enabling Act is voted into effect by referendum in Turkey;...
then all bets are off.

Based on the commentariat's wisdom ... Assuming that the coup came about because of efforts to normalize relations with Russia and withdrawal of support for head-chopping Al Qaeda mercenaries in Syria (in other words, the US launched/backed a coup because a sovereign Turkey took two rational if not essential acts in the interest of Turkey), and assuming Russia assisted in heading off and/or defeating the coup, I still don't expect Putin et al will ask/demand very much of Erdogan. And whatever they ask, he will execute that in gradualist manner.

Why? Turkey is economically close to the EU and doesn't want to feel its wrath. Erdogan is a clumsy actor and an unstable megalomaniac. You don't ask for big moves from folks like that. In that context, my expectation is that Turkey will withdraw support for most anti-Syria troops, but will keep fighting by proxy the Kurds. Assad, Putin et al will continue to support autonomy but NOT independence for Syria's Kurds (one of US/Israel huge errors was not making it clear the U.S. opposed independence for Kurds).

Relations with Russia and Iran will improve, and Turkey will on the surface become one of those sovereign countries that balances pretty good relations with the West and the East. Turkey will do nice things for NATO and nice things for Iran/Russia. It will avoid intervention in Israeli and Arab countries' affairs. Anyway, balancing, leverage for Turkey, makes for a nice future, but medium-and-long-run I don't see Erdogan being the one managing that. Turkey needs a Putin, somebody subtler, smarter, more self-aware and better connected to the real world than Erdo.

OK, now I'm officially freaked-out by Gulen. Sibel Edmonds seemed to be particularly critical of them, but I really couldn't find anything that damning online. Lots of CIA stuff, but that - in and of itself - is not particularly damning. The CIA would use the Girl Scouts for regime change or heroin trafficking if they could. Then I find this article from Robert Amsterdam on The Hill (not exactly a sensationalist rag):

Huh? Why are they interested in military bases? Their formula for financial success seems to be about being a parasite feeding on U.S. state and federal educational grants, while relying on cheap import teaching labor that has to kick back a certain amount of their salaries to the school. Their published teaching pay sucks anyways - truck drivers make more money. The Turk slave labor H1-Bs they import must have to live in cardboard boxes (which the school sells them at inflated prices). The board (at least in Reno) was recruited from Turkish staff at existing schools.

These are all tuition-free private schools. For non-U.S. readers: 'charter' schools are roughly like private schools accredited to receive the same amount of tax dollars per pupil as public schools. They have to meet various requirements to show they meet the same standards of teaching/learning. Some are legitimate, but many are just parasitic tax-dollar-stealing scams masquerading as a school. Gulen probably has schools near you no matter which country you're in.

Gulen did open a school at Davis-Monthan Air Base in Nevada, but withdrew their application for the Marine's Camp Pendleton when their connection with Gulen was called out. The charter schools are careful to hide ANY connection to Gulen whatsoever.

Here's the Coral Academy of Science Las Vegas web site. Looks like a typical office-park charter. No mention of Gulen to be found. These are not Islamic or religious schools in any way. They are just normal cookie-cutter science-technology-engineering-math grinders.

The school thing on military bases is strange, but I'm also taking into consideration the other dirt I could find on Gulen, which is that they seem to have bought off half of Congress. Free luxury trips to Turkey for Congressmen? For what? Gulen also (surprise) gave a half-million or so to Hillary - but people figure it's a lot more. This is basically the way they operate in Turkey: grooming Gulen graduates/followers for positions of influence who are then hired by existing Gulen followers in positions of influence who work for other Gulen bought-and-paid-for officials. No wonder Edmonds has no love for them.

I don't know if Gulen has some kind of nefarious plans for the U.S. At face value, it just seems like the old profit-through-influence-peddling racket. But toss in schools, Congress, the CIA and regime change, and this is damn frightening. I know the U.S. Congress readily whores itself out to Israel, the MIC and everyone else with cash, but I never imagined a shady outfit like Gulen could get this far.

I had to look up your reference to realize you're saying Notre Dames may be converted into New Hagia Sophia, when the Dome of the Rock is far more likely to be converted into the New Tabernacle of Yinon, (especially when you consider the only holy sites being blown up on Earth these days are all of Islam's). If 19 imaginary 'AQ' Cessna pilots wanted to attack 'America' instead of the Twin Pillars of Zion, they would have targeted Comisky Park, Grand Central Station and Lincoln Memorial, instead.

Just sayin'....

You only have to live at street level anywhere on Earth today to see the rapid and irrevocable changes coming; the Exceptional Ubers juggernaut triumph: gentrification, fiat money changing and common core panmedia agitprop has not a whisper of the Koran to it, only of the False Kabalah of the Anti-Hessedic grovelers to Ba'al and Moloch; the sulfur stench rising from the banking temples of WADC-NOVA-WALL STREET-LONDON-BRUXELLES-SINGAPORE, as the whole world is upside-down and underwater.

Did the Mexicans scam Dot.Con?

Did the Muzzies swindle SCDO.Con?

Did Mendicant Students create a QEn/ZIRP/NIRP Disappearing -$20,000,000,000,000 American Psychopathy?

"You are either with us, or you are with the terrorists." GW Bush Jr, borrowed from Adolf Hitler
"Make America Great Again!" DJ Trump, also borrowed from Adolf Hitler

I just got done talking with a Jewish rabbi expat here in SEAsia, who was wiped out in 2008 by the Molochim, as I was also.
So let's put some lipstick on this 'Notre Dames-Hagia Sophia' trope of yours and sell that $T Nazional Zecuritat State pig.
The Chosen will take any new profit-center they can get, and 'Make America Safe (White) Again' is as good a slogan as any.
It sure worked for Der Vaterlandt...

It seems Erdy cares not much about make of Turkey an EU member but save his skin (oh, a God´s gift), how?, pretending abandon "west" but surely he had send enough signals Turkish government will can play a Trojan horse roll, enough as to make sure he will be let free to do as its pleasure until it becomes a useful asset to destroy "eastern block" KSA/I are part of "the horse". If US really wants to nullify him I believe not it was so difficult to them. They are taking control of nuclear devices and US is so quit about it...something fits not in picture

That's weird. The link didn't show. Just noting how the crazed but mainstream anti-Erdogan argument has started -- fighting off a coup and cleansing education system of Gullen/coup supporters means ... Turkey out of NATO!

"... How [Gulen received] his US residency status while he was ‘wanted’ by the –then- Turkish Government, is still a mystery. Now, this man owns and operates charter schools in USA –through various foundations- despite the fact his Madrasas were outlawed in countries like Russia and Uzbekistan. His schools were under investigation in the Netherlands. Plus, the origin of his immense wealth, which he used to open and operate these schools all over the world, is unclear.

A former CIA station chief in Kabul and the author of “The Future of Political Islam,” Graham Fuller was one of Gulen’s official references in Gulen’s Green Card application, along with another ex-CIA George Fidas and former U.S. ambassador to Turkey Morton Abromovitz, after Gulen rushed to U.S.A. from Turkey in 1999. It is curious how and why an Imam from Turkey had this sort of connections in U.S.A.

Ex-CIA Graham Fuller who served 15 years as an intelligence officer in various countries of the Middle East and Asia, wrote a book about Turkey, titled “The New Turkish Republic: Turkey as a Pivotal State in the Muslim World”, published in 2008. In his book, he fervently promotes the idea of “Moderate Islam”. The problem is, the man he helped escape to U.S.A. by providing references, Fethullah Gulen, was anything but a “moderate.”

Fuller was deeply involved in Afghanistan in the 1980s, encouraged the Reagan administration to begin arming Iran against Iraq during their slugfest, and suggested to the Clinton administration that it should use Muslims to further US interests in Central Asia.

As a side note here, I wanted to mention that Muller’s daughter Samantha A. Fuller was married to Ruslan Tsarnaev. Yes, the uncle of the two Chechen brothers [Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev] who are suspected of bombing the Boston Marathon. The couple divorced sometime before 2004. Interestingly, Ruslan worked for companies connected to Halliburton, the multinational juggernaut run by Dick Cheney before he became Vice President of the United States. He was also a “consultant” for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in the former Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan. Russia barred USAID from its soil in late 2012, alleging USAID together with CIA was attempting to influence the internal political processes in the country ..."http://www.progressivepress.net/the-tale-of-uncle-tsarnaev-cia-chief-graham-fuller-and-a-turkish-islamist-who-lives-in-usa/

The howls for democracy have to be taken with a ocean of salt. If the coup had gone the other way, I have no doubt they would now be conducting a purge that makes this one look mild by comparison. And there is really no need to speculate. You can just look up what the Turkish military did after earlier coups and just use your imagination.

What is not an illusion is the malignancy, mendacity, and the fetid odor of U.S. policies, --all with an assist from its neocon helpers. The new Tory UK Prime Minister, Madame May, has come out parroting the "Russian threat" nonsense.

It is the Empire of Chaos that is the root cause of threats, death, horror, and misery in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan, and countless other places.

Who then are the thieves of the Ukraine's gold reserves?--Who are behind the Gulenist infiltrations in Turkey?--Who are erecting a missile defense in eastern Europe whose real target would be Russia?--Who has 1,700 special forces in Africa, stirring up shit?--Who is really responsible for most of the refugees and displaced, dispossessed people, in Syria?

And Erdogan is a helping hand to the Empire, until he is not. The New Sultan who was perfectly capable of funneling chemical weapons and arms to the rebels in Syria, and then prosecuting the Turkish journalists who reported it. He was an accomplice, and a willing one, for the U.S. war planners who are simultaneously undermining him, and clearing the way for a coup d'etat.

If the Turks are sincere about turning "east", it has little to do with a sudden ideological shift from the "west" and NATO and more to do with the kurdish question. Partitioning Syria into smaller/manageable pieces was always the goal of the US (at the behest of Israel), Turkey and the gulf states. However, whereas the turkish campaign in northwestern Syria has screeched to a halt, the US-backed so called Syrian Democratic Forces (whom the turks deem no different to the PKK) are steadily closing the gap along the turkish border. An autonomous (kurdish) region independent from turkish influence (as it'd be under US protection) on its southern border is a much worse of a scenario than any future and potential losses in Syria (or with turkish relations to the EU).

Dealing with the kurds means cozying up to Assad (who isn't going anywhere), Iran and Russia.

"However, whereas the turkish campaign in northwestern Syria has screeched to a halt, the US-backed so called Syrian Democratic Forces (whom the turks deem no different to the PKK) are steadily closing the gap along the turkish border." never mind | Jul 20, 2016 5:28:16 AM | 62

If the Turkey-supported forces did not advance much, it is not for the lack of trying. SAA had to move their best forces, and Iranian-organized allies to stop them, while curtailing the march to Euphrates through ISIS territory and shifting to defense in Palmyra. Very intense attacks were against Aleppo, trying to cut-off SAA held western part by an attack from the south and against SAA positions in northern Latakia. Moreover the relative stalemate in "north Aleppo", where SAA recently advanced and "effectively closed the siege" of the eastern Aleppo was also associated with intense fighting that requires steady supplies of heavy weapons, missiles and ammunition. Plus the rebels regularly were attacking from Turkish territory. This is apparently still going on.

I have very serious doubts if Erdogan will accommodate Iran and Russia by stopping the illegal supplies to the rebels. What will probably happen is that Kurds in Turkey will be attacked less intensely, because the capabilities of Turkish military are compromised by the purges. This can also be the reason to withdraw smallish forces from Iraq. However, the military intelligence, MIT, is firmly directed by an Erdogan's man, and by many appearances, this is a hard core Islamist outfit. Once you recruit and train enough of true believers to de-facto huge criminal organization, you ride the tiger where it wants to go. This was dubbed "Pakistanization of Turkey". And of course, Erdogan himself is a "true believer".

Trade is a different story, and on trade issue there is a genuine room for improvement. But this is not a turn in foreign policy but undoing damage caused by shooting down a Russian warplane. Erdogan has many business friends and his own family was catapulted to the ranks of big business, so he is easily sympathetic to the concerns of his friends. Would Erdogan abandon his war by proxy, I expect that PressTV and RT would have fewer stories ridiculing Erdogan.

"if Erdogan were Iranian, he could style himself shah". In fact, Ottoman language had a fair share of Persian vocabulary, and the rulers used the title "padishah". Mughal emperors used that title too (it means "great king" or "master king") besides "shahanshah" (king of kings, like Persian rulers).

"Masonry has Jewish roots". According to Wikipedia, the roots are actually Scottish. In 18th century masonry became popular among aristocrats and even royals in a large part of Europe, and being very much Anglo-Saxon invention, it was naturally present in the colonies and later, United States. Jews were rather late comers in the membership (and relatively few at that).

"Muslim Brotherhood is a crypto-Judaic organization". The only actual evidence is that for the first few years of Hamas existence Israel refrain from assassinations directed at Hamas, appreciating the trouble they presented to Fatah and Arafat. But this is proves only that even Israeli intelligence can be short sighted. More recently, Israeli press was extremely hostile to Morsi and enormously relieved when Egypt returned to its fascist normality. Perhaps Syrian Brothers could get some help from Israel, as it wishes to undermine Assad government, but "Judeo-Anglo-Saxon" consensus is not to let either side win.

Muslim Brotherhood is not dependent on any foreign support, it is rather popular among the part of business people in Arabic countries who do not enjoy government favor. For that reason they form anti-monarchic opposition in many Arab monarchies which is the root of official hatred of MB in Emirates. Plus, they are not salafis, hence Saudis hate them too. In Syria they had inclinations toward armed opposition, but Gulf money assured that their role was basically eliminated.

In a large part of Eurasia, "proving Jewish roots" is one of favorite methods of denigrating political and religious opponents, so surely there are many "proofs" out there in the internet, as MB has quite a few opponents.

Yeah, sure. An organization in highly anti-semitic medieval Europe is some sort of Jewish plot? Masonry's origins lie in the cathedral builders. Given that Jews were restricted to finance, I can't really see them in the ranks of these guilds.

"As former Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle gave a speech promoting inroads that Republicans have made with Jewish voters, as well as ripping the Democrats for allegedly being more hostile to Israel, Trump’s alt-right followers flooded the page with anti-Semitic vitriol."

I think that 'Turkey out of NATO' means 'Erdogan out of Turkey' - if he doesn''t fall back in line. Imperial Britain's 'defense' media point man is sending the message that next time the coup - or whatever filthy business - will be for keeps. The US/UK are not prepared to 'lose' Turkey. Which is certainly not to say that they mightn't, anyway.

Erdogan might do some clear-headed calculation and discover that Russia, Turkey. Syria, Iraq, Iran, China is actually the best place for Turkey to be. But I fear the guy is addicted to strivin' and schemin' and dreamin' of bein' on top.

68;Yes,finance requires only bad faith and subterfuge,while building things requires skills not levied to the Jews,as they are mostly terrible at blue collar moxie.
The old Polish lightbulb story.12 Poles screwing it in and 24 Jews giving opposite instructions.
OT;Trump has anti Russian pro Ukrainian shite scrubbed from party platform.(AW)

A grim Security Council (SC) report circulating in the Kremlin today states that the Federal Agency for Air Transport (Rosaviatsiya) was authorized today to ban all Russian citizens from traveling to the Republic of Turkey after the Ministry of Defense (MoD) reported that two US-NATO naval armadas currently operating in the Black Sea have combined and set sail towards Turkey territorial waters and that includes 14 Turkish warships reported “missing” from their fleet by Turkey’s government.

According to this report, at the time of 15 July failed US-CIA coup attempt against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (and that the MoD had warned about this past December), two US-NATO naval fleets were conducting unprecedented in their geographical scale of the war exercises in the Black Sea—the first being designated as Black Sea Breeze, and the second Sea Breeze 2016.

This report notes that the MoD had “long warned” that these US-NATO naval ships were planned to be used to support the failed coup attempt against Turkey’s democratically elected government—which was confirmed earlier today when they aborted their “planned” maneuvers and began to move in “full battle” formation towards Turkish waters.

This report further states that the “pretext/reason” to be given to the Western peoples for these vast US-NATO forces attacking Turkey is due to the Obama regime having to protect their estimated 90 B61 gravity nuclear bombs at Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base—that though stored in vaults in the floor of the protective aircraft shelters inside a security perimeter, are presently surrounded by Turkish military forces loyal to President Erdoğan and are believed “not to be safe anymore”.

My knowledge of the nature of Turkey and its current situation is very limited, so I will merely look out for "tells".

Some details first. The U.S. has been "calling in chits" on (beleaguering) its many vassals, certainly including Turkey, since forever. I've become astonished at how far these victims have allowed themselves to be pushed into actions that undermine their own interests. But maybe the chit credit is finally maxing out. And maybe the Turks are now preparing to back away?

And also, the big Saudi gambit has failed miserably. Their oil war with Russia has mostly been lost; some would say it backfired. (They have been noted to have overstepped peak oil some time ago.) (But how are they now having a fire sale?) And the Yemen adventure has been disastrous. So maybe the Turks now understand the downside of playing the Saudi gambit?

Now for my personal conspiracy analysis. Just suppose Turkish and maybe Russian intel detected a NATO backed Gulen movement fifth column that was about to pull a Ukraine number on Erdogan. So wily Erdo then shoots down a Russian ground attack fighter over Syria to (deceptively) "prove" that the Russians are out of the picture. Then Erdo stages a fake coup, which enables him to roll up the entire Gulen movement fifth column. And then he suddenly flips over to side with Russia and Iran. (This is just my little conspiracy analysis.)

from rt this morning - "The Turkish higher board of education has prohibited all academics from traveling abroad, according to local broadcaster TRT.

The ban is a temporary measure to prevent alleged coup plotters in universities from escaping, according to a Turkish government official, cited by Reuters. Some people at the universities were communicating with military cells, the official claimed.

Four university rectors have also been suspended as part of the crackdown, according to broadcaster NTV.

It comes shortly after the government ordered the resignation of all university deans – namely, 1,577 people."

at least we are hearing about it from TRT and NTV media outlets inside turkey, or are they state sponsored media outlets?

From reading the news just now, the purged are upped to about 65K (figs. need confirmation, and some corps/classes might find themselves mysteriously pardoned, re-instated, such as soldiers. But what was the no. in Iran?)

When I saw that all U Rectors (this just means top U personnel, a mistranslation probably for 'tenured personnel') (1) have been fired or suspended or whatever, it seems clear to me: Erdogan is going to re-design everything, the whole Gvmt. apparatus. Incapacitating the Judiciary is another sure sign…

Looks like the choice was between a military dictatorship (now not) and police state one-party Islam-pegged dictatorship. Turkey has never been ‘secular’ imho, but nor are the Turks highly religious…

In Turkey the oligarch class (privatizations galore / contract, tenders / etc. are run on a tight, and corrupt, network basis), and the nouveaux-riche (incl. those ‘country poor’ who ‘urbanised’ - not straight into the ritzy heart of Istanbul but in peripheries, etc. and didn’t climb very high..) are pro-E., because of economic development.

Erdogan is their man! and E. has reinforced this through the religious angle, imho though that is somewhat peripheral, provides cohesion and rationalisation(s). Market muslims! (we call them here, as a friendly joke, not an insult.) (-> all from my understanding from far off..) I’m not optimistic that Turkey will survive in good shape (economic problems …) or even hold together.. It is a kind of hunkering down, an ‘exit’ of a type…

1. E had it in for them though. About 1000 academic personnel, many high ups, early this year, signed a letter to him - wording I don’t recall - basically for Peace with the Kurds, in the SE, etc. It is this kind of thing that lead to ‘the lists’..The Kurd problem remains, what will E do about that?

"In fact, the Gülen Movement, as it is called, has probably been the most active force against anti-Semitism in Turkey in the past two decades. Until his departure from Turkey in 1998, one of Gülen’s best friends was Turkey’s chief rabbi and the two men routinely appeared in front cameras for joint “Abrahamic” prayers. To date, Gülen’s followers have held dozens of interfaith meetings in Turkey and elsewhere, and their media outlets have persistently promoted understanding between Muslims and Jews."

Considering Turkey's recently announced "closer ties with Israel" I'd like to be a fly on the wall during a meeting at which Putin makes Russia's rumoured "closer ties with Israel" sound like a good idea - to Syria, Iran and Hezbollah.

It's becoming clear now - nearly everyone on earth was aware of the coup before it happened. I am awaiting confirmation that Wallis/Futuna Joint Intelligence Service and some guy from Tobago also knew in advance.

@88 Paveway
The article might say that Russia tipped Erdogan about the incoming coup, but I'm more inclined to say that tip came from the Iranians themselves. Iran has everything to gain if Turkey is getting closer to them. No wonder they are beaming.

It was during the 5+ hours of meeting between Kerry and Lavrov last week and in between there was that meeting with Putin , less than 1 hour. Putin refused to be the AIRFORCE of the coalition ( read the servant of ash Carter) in Syria. Coordination of strikes and positions but Putin refused the request not to hit the rebels .

@91
Thanks for that. As everyone seemed to know the coup in Turkey was coming, the timing of this visit seems to me may have deeper implications: did Kerry expect a different outcome on Friday in Ankara? Maybe timing is coincidental, that's the simplest answer.

@77 The problem with Sorcha Faal or Ben Fulford is that they often present certain details in their "reports" that can only come from intelligence sources outside public knowledge and they that do check out.

But their reports are sometimes self-contradictory, so it's hard to tell who's behind them. I find SF bashing of Obama especially stupid. So he's supposedly responsible for all the evil, yet cited "Russian reports" have said for a long time that he's lost control over the country. So which is it...?